Polynesian Panthers share revolutionary spirit at Flaxmere College

Polynesian Panther members, from left, Melani Anae, Tigilau Ness and Alec Toleafoa are welcomed at Flaxmere College. Photo / Warren Buckland

Flaxmere College hosted three members of the Polynesian Panthers on Wednesday as part of the revolutionary social justice group’s Educate to Liberate programme.

Tigilau Ness, Melani Anae and Alec Toleafoa spoke to students at the school in Hastings to acknowledge the movement’s legacy of activism and its ongoing battle for the fair and equal treatment of indigenous minorities.

The young urban Pacific and Māori activists formed in South Auckland after the Dawn Raids of the mid-1970s in response to racism and oppression experienced by Pacific peoples. The group took their distinctive name from the Black Panthers, an African-American rights movement.

Today the Polynesian Panther Legacy Trust visits hundreds of schools around the country.

As high school students at the time, they became interested in the three foundation points of the Panthers movement: civic empowerment, education to liberate, and passive resistance against racism.

“We get that out to younger generations so they can understand the journey and the challenges we faced historically and how we responded to those challenges now,” Reverend Alec Toleafoa said.

Toleafoa has a Hawke’s Bay connection.

His brother is Reverend Wayne Toleafoa, who was once a Polynesian Panther member and is now a minister at St Columba’s Presbyterian Church in Havelock North.

The Polynesian Panthers gained fame when they gave a voice to tenants unfairly treated by landlords. By the mid-1980s the Tenancy Tribunal was formed to oversee rental agreements and protect tenants’ rights.

They also provided legal advice and food co-ops, and pushed for their language to be recognised.

In 2021 the Polynesian Panthers celebrated 50 years and formed a trust to formalise and consolidate the work they were doing.

Melani Anae believes racism is still being fought more than five decades later “because it is still here”.

“In terms of the global situation, we feel it’s like the 70s all over again, with wars, Covid and rampant racism. We are in that space where change happens and it comes from the young people who are transforming what has been before.”

“As Panthers, we stood up against racism and we were a gift to Aotearoa because we made racism visible,” Anae said.

“New Zealand has many firsts, first to give women the vote and first to ban nuclear ships. We feel we can be the first to stop racism and make New Zealand better than the place we grew up in 50 years ago.”